Matthew 11:3 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Matthew 11:3

Comments

John was now unsure. He was in prison. He had preached vigorously, but he had become despondent. He had prophesied correctly, but he did not understand one thing. He was taught to recognise the Messiah and to say, ‘he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire’ (Matthew 3:11). He had said that Christ had come to judge, but he thought it was to happen immediately, and that Messiah had come to reform the nation. Yet what was reported to him in prison was that Christ had come in gentleness, and so he was confused: ‘I thought he would get rid of the wayward and we would be happy.’ He had concluded it would involve getting rid of the Romans and making Israel a great nation in the world. That was not happening, so he asks, ‘Are you just another prophet? I acknowledge you are greater than I, but are you the Messiah? Should we look for a judging Messiah?’ He was a prophet, but he also a man and could make mistakes. He formed the conclusion that he may have mistaken the identity of Christ. When we are cast down we should not take ourselves too seriously.It is true that his understanding may have been defective, but one thing that was not clear when the Old Testament prophets preached, was the distinction between Christ first coming and his second coming. They did not spell out that there would be a gap between them. Through the gospel the world would be evangelised, the invisible kingdom set up in men’s hearts, and later Christ would come again to judge. The Old Testament prophets telescoped both comings into one. That is not completely true, because in hindsight, we can see it is all there in the Old Testament, but John could have been getting disappointed expecting thousands converted and judgement. None of this seems to be happening. He had some lack of understanding, but ‘affected to enquire‘ (Luther).

Application

What kind of Saviour do we have in mind? Is it just a conquering king? No, we have deeper needs than that. Even if the Saviour were to re-order the world, it would not touch our deepest needs. We need a soul Saviour. Do we imagine a Saviour who is going to make the world a better place, remove all trials from our lives, prevents all wars, sicknesses, and tragedies? He has already told us that that is not how he is going to work. ‘Ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled.’ Iniquity will not decrease; ‘iniquity shall abound’. ‘In the world we will have much tribulation.’ It is ‘through faith and patience [that we] inherit the promises.’ Some think that if we accept Christ mentally, we will have a successful life. That is entirely wrong. Often believers are despised and most disadvantaged in this life. He has promised to make us spiritually advantaged, not to give success in this life. Some may become successful but others would be hurt and made proud and greedy by too much success. Some think conversion will make you always happy and never sin; you will no longer have to battle with sin. Wrong! You have to battle, and God helps in the struggle.

All kinds of mistakes are made in the study of prophecy because, to this day, people don’t see this distinction. They want to apply Old Testament prophecies to one or the other, the first or second coming of Christ. But both are often seen as one by the prophets. We must tease out the first and second comings in the prophecies or else we will get confused.

No one is as authenticated as Christ. People ask, why should I believe in him more than another? We live 2000 years after Christ, and find it hard to think of how long this is. And yet the same length of time before the Messiah, the promises of his coming were given which made clear what kind of Messiah he would be; they described his character: holy, but gentle. The prophecies say when he would be born. Why did he come so late? Why 2000 years after he was announced to Abraham, and 4000 years after the first announcement? To give long enough for him to be introduced. The Old Testament is not a collection of prophecies that could loosely apply to Christ, in a haphazard way. No, he is the organising principle of all prophecy, and the prophecies all converge on one person – the Lord Jesus Christ.

Where do doubts come from? Some doubts are based on a mistaken view of salvation, a false expectation of God’s plan, and of what Christ came to do. We look about and think, ‘Most people don’t believe this, and if they think at all they are cynical about the faith. Christ came 2000 years ago and yet things are no better today; there is still inequality, extortion. If Christ came to improve things, then it has not worked. And suffering is getting worse – how would God allow it?’ Others find fault with God based on ignorance. Many said, ‘He cannot be the Messiah; he is not born in Bethlehem, but in Nazareth.’ Actually he was born in Bethlehem, but they did not know it. Some think science contradicts religion. Actually, the longer time goes on, the more evidence there is for God. We find more and more examples of design as we investigate the wonders of creation and see the amazing systems at work within living things.

Questions

Some take the view that the doubt raised in the question that follows, exists not in John the Baptist himself, but in his disciples. He therefore resolves the matter by sending them to Christ to get the answer which they need to hear and which he knows they will hear. For those who interpret the event this way, it is impossible to think that John, who had given such a clear testimony to Christ being the Messiah, could now be in doubt about this. And yet, the natural reading of the passage indicates that it was indeed John that harboured these doubts. It is John who takes the initiative. He calls for two disciples to convey this question to Christ. Nothing is said about the doubts originating in the disciples, or about them coming to John first with this question. And when Christ sends the answer back, he tells the two messengers to go and tell John the answer. If the doubt had existed only in the disciples of John and not in John himself, it would have been sufficient to give the disciples the answer without sending it back to John.

Outline

Purpose

Introduction

Matthew 11:3 Commentary and Bible Study